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Archive for clip plus

As I was digging through the ABI forums, I ran across a good guide by zPoKE to replacing a broken clip on a Sansa Clip+ MP3 player. It’s nice to find a viable and cost effective solution to a very common problem like the clip breaking off of the Sansa Clip/Clip+, so I thought I would bring this easy tutorial back to the forefront to help anyone who has experienced this problem.

zP0KE recommends using ACCO KLIX Classic Metal paper fasteners as a replacement to the stock clip (you can use other types of clips as well provided they can withstand the strain). If you reside within the US, you can pick these up at a local Staples office supply store, or you can order them from Amazon directly. Continue reading…

The Sansa Clip will no doubt go down in MP3 player history as one of the biggest successes the market has seen, and it has just gotten better and better over the years as firmware updates, Rockbox and the Clip+ hardware update has improved on the original player in all sorts of ways. SanDisk knows this, so it’s not surprising that they’re giving the player yet another hardware overhaul, this time called the Clip Zip.

The basics from the Clip+ are still there in terms of features and basic design, but there are a few new features both on the surface and under the hood. The most noticeable of which is probably the new 1.1″ full color screen, which is a nice upgrade both in size and colors from the old OLED screen. One of our forum members got his hands on the new player and has written a comparison of the new Zip and the old Clip+ which shows that the new Zip is size wise pretty much the same as the Clip+, but with a rectangular control pad to make room for the bigger screen.

As for features under the hood, alphabet browsing has now been added when browsing files as well as the ability to deactivate unused menu items. The former is something I’ve loved on other players (like the Sony players) for years and seeing it on a SanDisk player is great. The menu “clean up” feature is also a nice addition, and lets more hard core music users hide features such as the radio (which now has a recording feature) and the new stopwatch. The new color screen also means a new UI, naturally, and from the pictures in the beforementioned forum thread it seems to be a lot like the interface of the Fuze+.

Overall it seems like a great update to the existing Clip+, and as Marvin points out in his comparison review it’s a lot more traditional of an update than the touch controlled Fuze+ of last year was.

Grahm, the editor of ABI, today saw this video I shot some time ago. He told me to post it on the front page. It’s shot with the nifty EOS MovRec tool on my Canon EOS 40D. It’s basically pixel perfect – what you see is what you get. You know what it’s about.

The Sansa Clip+ is one of the most popular players on this because it’s a very good player with a lot of things going for it. It didn’t end up like that without reason, and SanDisk have benefited greatly from being active in collecting user opinions and feature requests over the years. Added software elements like Ogg Vorbis and FLAC support, file/folder browsing and hard related things like a microSDHC slot are all features that have been requested by users of this forum and others. With SanDisk actually paying attention, that means that a lot more people are willing to bring things to their attention, and we have a thread in the forums for that exact reason. Here are some of the features requested in that thread, along with some others. SanDisk, we’re counting on you to use this information well, like you’ve done in the past.

The Sansa Clip(+) is an awesome player. Small, cheap, yet very powerful and with very good sound quality. unfortunately the 15 hour battery is one of its weakest points, and you might need to charge it a couple of times if you’re away for a few days. The cable that comes with it isn’t exactly that big, but it could be smaller- here’s how you make one that is.

The new Sansa Clip+ is one of several players that come with support for microSDHC cards. While smaller than SDHC cards, the capacity is also lower at 16GB max – although 32GB is coming. This means that while SDHC players like the Cowon D2 can get up to 32GB of extra storage, the microSDHC players are limited to 16GB for now. Or are they?

A few weeks ago I ran across an SDHC to microSDHC adapter on DealExtreme. Unlike most adapters between the two card types, this one actually gives you a microSDHC card from a bigger SDHC card instead of the other way around. Since the SDHC standard is the same regardless of size and the adapter simply takes the pins from the SDHC card and transfers it through a ribbon cable to a dummy microSDHC card, you can use any full size SDHC card as long as the player you use it with supports the SDHC standard (microSDHC counts). This means you can get 32GB of extra storage on your Sansa Clip+, Sansa Fuze or any other microSDHC player.

Still not convinced it works? Our forum moderator no9 ordered one of these and now have it fully working with a 32GB SDHC card in his 4GB Clip+. 4GB shy of the 40GB maximum you get with a 8GB Clip+ and this thing, that’s still a LOT of storage on a small player like that. The downside? The adapter sticks out, and refreshing the media library with a full card takes close to 15 minutes. If you use this with a bigger player like the Sansa Fuze you should be able to fit the adapter on the back and tape over it or whatever, and the slow refresh is only after you put the card in for the first time or after you’ve connected it to manage your music. Regardless of the downsides, the capacity we’re reaching with players this small is quite astonishing and make for very attractive players for people with large music collections. Hit the jump for a couple more pics.

The Sansa Clip has been a favorite among many as a quick and cheap way to listen to digital music. It has been a player for beginners and enthusiasts alike with a straight forward user interface along with top notch sound quality many times being paired with headphones and amps 10 times its price. For these reasons we made the Clip the number one MP3 player for 2008.

Since the Sansa Clips was release we immediately started screaming for a Clip with a microSD card slot, sure the Fuze had the same sound quality and features but it didn’t have the compact size that many users appreciated about the Clip. SanDisk has responded to our requests in the second generation Clip dubbed the Sansa Clip+. In addition to adding the microSD card slot SanDisk has taking the time to improve the player all around rightfully giving it its second generation badge.

The Clip+ resembles the original clip insides but with some upgraded silicone. Disassembling was easier than the original and fairly straight forward with the right tools. All you will need is a slim piece of plastic to pry the two half apart and a small screw driver. You can take apart and put back together the Clip+ without damaging the plastic housing if you are careful. Before your start, take a look at the pictures and mind where the latches are that hold the two pieces together. Then carefully pry at those locations. Good luck!

abi Editor's Choice

SanDisk Sansa Clip+

The Clip+ has a fantastic little form factor; somewhat cheap in build quality but very rugged. The interface is simple and relatively straightforward. The features on the Clip are more or less average, however it supports the alternative Rockbox firmware which provides tons of additional options (gapless playback, Replaygain, playlists, Last.fm scrobbling, etc). Read the full review or go ahead and buy it.

Cowon J3

The J3 is a fantastic PMP with a very nice AMOLED screen and tons of features. It sports Cowon's trademark BBE sound enhancements, and offers a customizable user interface with strong support by our user community. You can usually find it at Amazon for the best price - and don't forget to check out our review.

Microsoft Zune HD

Sure, many of us are not big fans of the walled garden, but there are a lot of great things going on with the Zune: sturdy hardware, ultra easy to use user interface, and a media player that is worthy of Editor’s Choice. You can check out our Zune HD review or stop by our Zune forums for the latest info and gossip.

Phonak Audéo PFE

Phonak Audéo PFE offer outstanding clarity and precision; natural, dynamic mids and treble, and decent bass for a single armature in-ear phone. They handle dense, complex music very well. The PFE work well with most acoustic and some electronic music genres, but bassheads might have to look at other alternatives. They're great for sports as well, since they fit very securely. Check out our review.

Hippo VB

The Hippo VB (Variable Bass) offers a serious subwoofer for on the go, right in your head. They don’t just deliver generous quantities of punchy, textured bass, but good audio quality over the whole frequency range with decent clarity and exceptional soundstage. Exchangeable bass ports let you customize their sound to your liking. Read our in-depth Hippo VB review.

Soundmagic E10 / E30

The Soundmagic E10 and E30 are basically right in the middle between the Phonak PFE and Hippo VB - not too analytical sounding, not too bass heavy. The E10 provide a bit more bass, the E30 a bit more clarity. Both come with a very fair price tag considering the sound quality they deliver - a great choice for the audio aficionado on a budget. Read our E10 and E30 reviews for more info.